General Motors cited when it announced on March 2 that it was temporarily suspending production of the car. But it does contain some bumps in the road of its own.
The Chevy Volt is a hybrid automobile that GM calls an “extended-range electric vehicle.” It is not intended to be used solely as an electric car; in fact, according to GM, the limited range of electric vehicles and the lack of charging stations make the Volt an ideal car because it has electricity for any short hops and a gasoline engine to extend the car’s range.
Bolling, who initially gave the Volt a negative review, tested the car for a week at the request of GM. He reported that it took 12 hours to charge and could only run for 25 miles before switching to the gasoline engine. He also complained in his Feb. 2 report that it ran out of juice in the middle of the Lincoln Tunnel on his way to work. He thought this was particularly disappointing for a car that cost $46,000 and was subsidized with taxpayer money. You can see Bolling’s report at tinyurl.com/7ou9s4c.
The writer of the viral email claims that it takes 10 hours to charge the battery so a 270-mile trip in a Volt would take about 14½ hours.
As Snopes.com points out, this is nonsensical. There is definitely a limited range on the electric motor, so you wouldn’t be stopping to charge it on a 270-mile trip. You would simply fill the gas tank. Snopes.com is a nonpartisan website that confirms or debunks rumors and urban legends.
The viral email goes on to say that since electricity costs $1.16 per kilowatt hour and the electric engine is 16 kwh, then it costs about $18.56 to charge the battery for that 25-mile range, or about 74 cents per mile. A comparable gas-only car costs about $15,000 and gets 32 mpg, which at around $3.19 per gallon (as cited in the email) is about 13 cents per mile.
Again, there are some funny numbers going on here. No one in the U.S. pays $1.16 per kilowatt hour. The average cost of electricity in the U.S. was $0.128 per kwh in January, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
And Car and Driver magazine, which also tested the Volt, found that using standard household 120-volt power, it took about 13.4 kwh to replenish the electric engine. Therefore, 13.4 kwh at $0.128 per kwh translates to $1.72 to charge the battery and $.07 per mile to use the Volt electrically. GM spokesman Rob Peterson also responded to the viral email:
“Recently, there have been some numbers circulating online about the cost to drive the Volt that are flat wrong — either the person doesn’t understand how the Volt works or they are paying roughly 10 times the national average for electricity (in which case, they have other issues).”
Production of the Volt will be stopped from March 19 through April 23, The Associated Press reported. By the way, just days after GM announced it was pulling the plug for now.
Recently it was Consumer Reports, now Edmunds Inside Line blog has posted a story about the Chevrolet Volt that could lead people to think it won’t make sense for them.
Not that Dan Edmunds lambasted the car, but he did make assumptions, while attempting to qualify: “The Volt’s cost and consumption story is complex, so I’m trying something a bit different with this particular monthly summary. It’s a work in progress.”
Sounds cautious, but he nevertheless prompted Chelsea Sexton (of “Who Killed the Electric Car?” fame) to write for plugincars that Edmunds made “worst-case assumptions,” plus other “flaws,” as he suggested the Volt is more costly to drive than two hybrid competitors.
“Their low-end mileage numbers are the worst I’ve seen so far in SoCal,” Sexton wrote, “which leads me to wonder if they were achieved while testing the governor.”
OK, we understand why people can get upset about something they care about, and agree Edmunds did come up with subjective results.
